Basically, this man is believed by police to be responsible for pushing an elderly man to his death in the subway tracks while his wife looked on helplessly. Already with an incredibly long rap sheet, he was also identified by another victim as the attacker who robbed him in the subway in an incident taking place half an hour before the fatal shove that made all the New York papers.

I’ve brought this concept up before, but now seems as good a time as any to bring it up again. If this man is ultimately found guilty of this and other senseless crimes…of what value is he to society? Of what value could he possibly be, given that his life has been nothing but a string of violent and destructive acts? Yet the state will ultimately spend everyone’s money prosecuting and incarcerating him. And he may even, as in the past, be released and given the opportunity to do these things again.

There’s only one right thing to do here, and it can’t be done under the existing legal system. Obviously no system is perfect, but in many other countries this situation would be handled differently. And this always brings me back to that Ra’s al Ghul quote from Batman begins, the one about criminals thriving on the indulgence of society’s understanding.

Do you want to pay for once again putting this guy through the legal process, and then giving him food and shelter? Me neither.